To America Magazine

America Magazine                                                                March 15, 2012
106 West 56^th Street

New York, New York 10019-3803

To the Editor:

With regard to the HHS mandate and its “accommodation,” the debate is bifurcated. One aspect deals with the policy of the U.S. government vs. the policy of the Catholic Church. Do women have a right to receive contraceptive services the Church pays for? Can the Catholic Church, and others who share its moral compunctions, be forced by our government to pay for such services through the insurance premiums they pay? These are questions of policy. They are not questions that inhere in the constitutional issue. The constitutional questions are of a separate nature and of a higher order of magnitude, a fact that has generally been overlooked. Those questions will not be answered by the chattering class in their opinion columns; they will inevitably be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court.

(Rev.) Charles E. Irvin, JD

DeWitt, MI 48820